I wipe my eyes, then take a deep breath before I look at Mr. Stratham. He’s patiently staring at the floor. “Mr. Stratham, I appreciate you coming down here.” He looks up. I rub at my temples. My head feels like it’s going to explode. “But Trey doesn’t learn lessons. I am not taking any action. I just want this to be over.”
Danni sits on the bed. “Wren, I’m so sorry.” She glances at John and lifts an eyebrow.
John scowls at Danni. “I said to give her some time.”
“Obviously, there’s more I need to know?” I turn to John, and he shakes his head, still scowling.
“Wren should know.” Danni stares at him hard. “She’s tough and kind, and she’ll want to help you.”
Emma nods. “I agree. Stop being so hardheaded and give her a chance to help.”
John sighs and turns to me. “Bishop is suing me for battery.”
“But… you were protecting me.”
John stares down at his boots, shaking his head. “Maybe I shouldn’t have punched him that second time, but it sure felt good.”
Nausea roils through me. It doesn’t matter what happened. Either way, Trey will twist it. He’s a master at manipulating the truth. And so are the lawyers he keeps in his back pocket. I sit back against my pillows as anxiety hits me like a freight train. Without even blinking, Trey will financially annihilate John.
Mr. Stratham steps forward again. “Your actions, Mr. Fox, could be construed as protecting Miss. Hale. Or not. I don’t know the full account. However, my guess is that there’s plenty on the video that Mr. Bishop will not want anyone to see. I’m not giving legal advice here. But perhaps if Mr. Bishop is personally informed of the video surveillance, pointed out by numerous signs in Heaven as legally required, and he knows that we will use it in your defense,andif you all decide to supply him some snippets of the most damning parts for him to preview”—he raises an eyebrow—"specifically where he’s with you, Honey, he might feel compelled to drop the case against you.”
John’s scowling down at his boots again. “This is too much pressure on Wren.”
“No, let’s do this,” I tell him, my voice firm. “But I need help.”
“This next part is out of my hands,” Mr. Stratham says. “It will require personal, not legal, negotiating.” He nods to Danni and Emma. “In fact, let’s pretend I’m not here right now.”
Danni slides onto the bed next to me. “Do you have Trey’s cell number or his personal email?”
I nod.
Danni looks at Emma. Emma sits on the bed, shoving Danni over a little then taking my hand. “I’m sorry. My last husband, Cole, was… well, we didn’t have a healthy relationship.” Sheholds my gaze, her eyes filled with compassion. “I’m so glad you’ve kicked Trey to the curb. It took me way too long to do what you’re doing. I feel bad about bugging you while you’re in the hospital, but maybe if we punch this guy where it hurts—a few, quick, powerful jabs to show him that you’re not playing around—it will make an impact. I think we should pick out the parts that Trey needs to know we have and discard, for now, the ones that won’t make as much of an impact. He’s built up this good guy persona over years and years, and my guess is that whatever is on that video won’t support it.”
I snort. “That’s for sure.”
“Would you like someone—maybe Ned, who’s already seen the video—to pick out some parts you can okay to send to Trey?”
I look away, shame pouring through me again, thinking about Ned and John having to watch what Trey did to me. “Did the tape capture everything—from the time Trey arrived until…”
“Yes,” Danni says softly. “That’s what Ned said, anyway. Everything that happened on the front porch.”
“But what if Treydoesn’trespond?” I ask.
“Then Tate will do his lawyery stuff and send the evidence that he has—the full video, and let’s see what they make of that.”
“Okay.” I close my eyes briefly. “But first, I want to see the video.”
24
HONEY
“I’ve been thinkingabout it, and I don’t want to go home,” I tell John when we’re waiting for them to finalize my discharge from the hospital. He slept in the chair again last night, but most of the previous day he was gone. Yesterday, after everyone left and I watched the video I insisted Ned send me, I wanted to curl up in a ball and die for a good, wasted hour. But then I watched it again and saw how I stood up to Trey, but also, how wonderful Monster and John were, rushing to my rescue. And John’s determined face when he rushed me to the pickup almost broke me.
I called Cat and Aunt Birdie after, telling them I’m pregnant, I’m okay, and that I will tell them absolutely every single detail of my time here once I’m discharged. When I told Cat I was pregnant, she ordered me to move in with her in her tiny flat in Chicago. Aunt Birdie told me I should come live with her and Aunt Louisa, and that a baby was just what they needed around the house.
After my calls and a long nap, Danni, Ned, Emma, and Tank showed up with a pizza. We spent several hours figuring out what snippets to use, making them look perfect, and discussing the wording for my text, email, and finally, a call I made to Treythat thankfully went to voicemail. I was dreading hearing his voice again.
“You don’t want to go home because you love the hospital food so much?” John says, eyeing my half-eaten breakfast tray.
